The Real Story Last Week; McCain Cuts and Runs from Michigan

The story last week was more than VP Debates and Bailouts. In terms of this year's election the real story was The McCain campaign bailing out of Michigan and moving his personal goal post to PA. and FLA.

The Guardian has a great little 101 piece about why this is important.

But beyond basic math this is important symbolically. McCain is conceding ground, which has got to be a big ego slam to him. The last two weeks have seen very little go right for team McPalin. She held her own in the debate yesterday, but did not gain ground. The news about Michigan broke on the same day. McCain got a pretty dramatic black eye in the bailout mess of the last 7 days. AND his signaling that Palin would give even less access to the media is not going to give him any press pillows to fall down on when he stumbles.

The fight is going to get more intense in Florida for sure. (damn?! Florida-- Again???) but he is showing his weak, white, pasty, underbelly an awful lot recently. It is no time for us to be over confident, but it is nice to see a little good news on our horizons.

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VP Stakes: The Ed Rendell Edition

The vetting continues. Ed? What can I say... I am not objective. I lived in Philadelphia (Philly) while he was mayor. He changed the city in a really positive way. And he bridged an enormous gap between the suburbanites and the inner city dwellers in a way not seen before.


I was NOT surprised when he handily won the Governorship, twice.

As VP he brings to the table a lot of executive experience, but no foreign affairs experience. He was a big supporter of the Clintons as we all know and so he can speak with credibility to Bill & Hill's fans who's feathers are still ruffled. As you can see, he passes my photo test.

He is a do-er. A good fundraiser. And I think he would be OK with the second seat. He did a great job in my city, and state and he would bring a good solid win in PA. He would certainly not be the kind of VP candidate that could not win his own state.

He was 1996 Municipal Leader of the Year.

On the downside, as I said... no real foreign affairs credentials. And not a lot of name recognition west of Ohio. And he is a bit "in" with the beltway Bobs and Betties. He was also one of the dems praising fox for their coverage of the primary. (boo) But he took good care of the city of brotherly love and the keystone state.

Your thoughts on Vice President Rendell?

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